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by capote 3715 days ago
Yep... I'm exaggerating but I did trade some freedom to post whatever code I want wherever for a better salary. It's not uncommon for contracts to give employers ownership of any ideas/code an employee comes up with, or to specifically prohibit freelancing or contribution to open source.
3 comments
btown 3715 days ago
For others reading this thread - there are only 8 states that provide restrictions on what these contracts can say regarding what ideas/code are owned by the company. In the other 42, most contracts won't care if you used company resources, or if your work is in an entirely different industry - the employer will own what you make if they're paying you for the month in which you made it. It's not very nice, but it's not like you're being cheated when you choose to take a salary.

http://www.intellectualpropertylawfirms.com/resources/intell...

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bsimpson 3715 days ago
There's plenty wrong about California, but this is one of the nice parts about living here.
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britPaul 3715 days ago
I'm in a similar situation - had to have a detailed discussion with the our local legal counsel about what I can/cannot opensource. Long story short, for personal projects: a) I cannot use my company provided laptop. b) It cannot overlap with my employer's current or future business interests.
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chrisfosterelli 3715 days ago
That sounds absolutely terrible... but to each their own I suppose.
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capote 3715 days ago
Indeed to the latter bit. I'm completely okay with it; otherwise I wouldn't have signed the contract. Kind of irritating that someone downvoted me too.

Thanks to the good Samaritan who gave my point back :)

Also, it's totally reasonable for some companies to have restrictions like this. At my company, for example, the primary business is some really smart math guys coming up with market models. By programming these models, a programmer will get algorithms and ideas which belong to the company in their mind. Depending on the nature of a personal/open source project, one could even inadvertently use the company's ideas--putting the company's property out in the open and potentially benefiting competitors.

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